Book 5

Dying for Justice

by L.J. Sellers

Published 23 March 2012
Ten years ago, Hector Vargas confessed to the cold-blooded murder of Detective Wade Jackson’s parents. Now, facing his own death, Vargas has reached out from prison to declare his innocence. Armed with the shocking new truth that dirty cops railroaded Vargas, Jackson must revisit the painful past to get justice for his parents—and jail the ruthless killer.

Meanwhile, Gina Stahl awakens from a two-year coma with a chilling message on her lips: He tried to kill me. Now Detective Lara Evans must probe the young woman’s desperate claim that her near death was not failed suicide, but attempted murder.

As their investigations intersect, Jackson tangles with his estranged brother, hunts a loan shark turned philanthropist, and confronts his parents’ long-buried secrets, while Evans contends with a relentless reporter, shadows a fellow cop with a dangerous reputation, and struggles with her feelings for Jackson. But the more dark revelations they make, the deadlier the resistance they face from a killer terrified of losing everything…and willing to stop at nothing.

Book 7

Rules of Crime

by L.J. Sellers

Published 26 February 2013
When a call from his daughter, Katie, interrupts his much-needed vacation, Detective Wade Jackson knows it’s bad news. As Katie tearfully announces that her mom—Jackson’s ex-wife, Renee—is missing, Jackson suspects alcoholic Renee has climbed back inside the bottle that destroyed their marriage. But the truth is far worse: kidnappers have snatched Renee and are demanding ransom from her wealthy fiancé.

The very same night, someone dumps a savagely beaten University of Oregon coed on the doorstep of the ER. Jackson’s protégé, Detective Lara Evans, must identify the unconscious victim, then track down the assailant with no leads to go on…except the whispered rumor of a secret sorority.

Meanwhile, Eugene’s new FBI liaison, Agent Carla River, takes charge of Renee’s high-tech ransom operation while Jackson comforts his distressed daughter and retraces the steps of the mother she holds dear. But as the rescue takes a deadly twist and the suspects seem willing to let Renee die rather than crack under interrogation, Jackson worries that Katie will never forgive him if her mother is lost forever.

Book 9

Deadly Bonds

by L.J. Sellers

Published 26 August 2014
When a young mother is found murdered in a derelict Eugene neighborhood—and her terrified young son is discovered hiding beneath the floorboards—Detective Jackson reluctantly takes the case. His own life is already in chaos, with his runaway teenage daughter, Katie, still gone and his girlfriend, Kera, facing her own family crisis. Matters get more complicated when the orphaned boy bonds with Jackson, triggering unexpected emotions and compromising his ability to investigate. Meanwhile, Detective Evans, one of Jackson’s most valuable colleagues, is pulled off the case to look into the death of a University of Oregon football star—leaving the homicide task force shorthanded. As Jackson works to solve the murder and find a home for little Benjie, he soon faces devastating choices that threaten everything he holds dear.

Book 10

Wrongful Death

by L.J. Sellers

Published 24 February 2015
On a chilly Oregon morning, a policeman is found slain near the homeless camp where he’d been passing out blankets the night before. When Detective Jackson is called to the scene, witnesses point to a pair of mentally ill street twins as the likely perpetrators.

As the case progresses and arrests are made, the homeless community revolts against the police, and the chaos pulls detectives away from their investigations. Tension mounts, and the evidence begins to link a series of sexual assaults to the death of the murdered officer. The task force is quickly faced with a dangerous decision: Should they risk the life of another young victim to catch the killer?

Liars, Cheaters & Thieves

by L.J. Sellers

Published 6 December 2011
Outside a local bar, a man is drugged and slashed to death with a scalpel. Inside a local bank, a woman suffers a fatal heart attack after learning her life savings have been plundered.

The crimes are as different as the night and day they occur. The vicious murder is a case for Eugene’s Violent Crimes Division, but the more Detective Wade Jackson and his homicide team probe into the death of Rafel Mazari—an Iraq War veteran with disturbing secrets—the more it appears that one crime’s victim may be the other’s perpetrator.

While there’s damning evidence that Mazari died at the hands of his cheating wife, a phantom internet veterans’ charity—the same one that wiped out the heart attack victim’s bank account—keeps cropping up at every turn of Jackson’s investigation. And when Mazari’s best friend turns up murdered in identical fashion, Jackson suspects a motive that’s deeper, darker, and more devastating than broken vows and love turned lethal.

Passions of the Dead

by L.J. Sellers

Published 13 October 2010
The scene is a bloodbath: Jared and Carla Walker lie brutally bludgeoned and stabbed to death, along with their young son, while their teenage daughter barely clings to life. Detective Wade Jackson’s boss believes a gang of carjackers has graduated to home invasion…and homicide. But there are other suspects in the mix: a bitter brother-in-law convinced the Walkers ripped him off big-time, a young heroin addict in forbidden love with the Walker’s daughter, and the shady former employer who was being blackmailed by Jared Walker.

Still, with only inconclusive forensic evidence and a sole survivor who can’t remember anything, Jackson and his team are getting nowhere fast. And so is Jackson’s personal life—as he duels over money with his alcoholic ex, struggles to raise his teenage daughter, and fights to keep his high-pressure job from destroying his new romance. Add the looming specter of departmental downsizing, and things couldn’t possibly get worse. At least until the only living witness to the massacre vanishes—along with the shocking truth buried in her mind—and the killer follows in hot pursuit.

Crimes of Memory

by L.J. Sellers

Published 15 October 2013
Fresh off the leave-of-absence he took following his ex-wife’s tragic death, Detective Wade Jackson’s life is in upheaval. He struggles to keep his grief-stricken, out-of-control daughter, Katie, from succumbing to the same alcoholism demon as her mother, while trying to reinvigorate a passion for his work. When a body is found in a local storage unit, Jackson hopes a simple open-and-shut homicide case will help him get back on track. But when the victim is identified as ex-con Craig Cooper—a former meth addict who did time for bank robbery, the spoils of which were never recovered—it becomes quickly apparent that the case will be challenging.

The same night Cooper is murdered, a firebomb goes off in a bottled water factory on the other side of town. The prime suspects are from an organization called Love the Earth—eco-terrorists believed to be modeling themselves after the infamous Earth Liberation Front. Fears that new group is plotting another attack bring agents from the ATF and FBI to town, among them Jamie Dallas, an undercover agent with a wild streak, and Carla River, an FBI agent with a complicated past. When Jackson discovers a shocking link between the murder case and the bombing, they will have to work together to solve both crimes before they blow up in their faces.

Death Deserved

by L.J. Sellers

Published 19 July 2016

Detective Wade Jackson is in for a shock when he’s summoned to the police chief’s office—his sergeant has been poisoned, and Jackson’s been tapped to lead the investigation.

But before the Eugene Violent Crimes unit has a chance to respond, two people are gunned down at a licensed marijuana nursery. Jackson and his colleague Detective Lara Evans are on the case—but there are more suspects than evidence, and the crime is baffling.

Soon, more people are hospitalized, and when Evans discovers a link between the poisonings and edible pot, she and Jackson suspect that the product tampering and shootings are connected.

As the task force investigates new leads, it’s clear that the detectives are on a dangerous trail, one that forces them to question everyone—even their own team. But they’ll have to uncover the truth fast…before the next victim falls prey.